Hekate: The Aftermath Chronicles
by Shane Lutz
Summary: This is the story of Hekate after the attack on her Shadowrealm and her tragic death. When she is brought back to life, the Goddess with Three Faces wages everything she has against her murderers in a bitter attempt for revenge.
1. Prologue

…_..Excalibur slid smoothly into the wood, sinking right up to the hilt without resistance. For a long moment nothing happened, and then the Yggdrasill began to moan. The sound was like that of an animal in pain: beginning as a deep grumbling, it quickly rose to a high-pitched whimpering. Where the hilt of the sword protruded from the tree, a blue stain appeared. Like dripping ink, it flowed down the tree and seeped into the ground, the oily blue light ran along the veins and seams of wood. Yggdrasill's cries grew higher and higher, until they were almost beyond human hearing. The surviving Torc Allta fell to the ground, writhing in pain, clutching at their ears; birdmen whirled in confusion and the cat-people began to hiss and howl in unison._

_The blue stain raced around the tree, coating everything in a thin veneer of glittering ice crystals that reflected the light. Blue-black and purple-green rainbows shimmered in the air._

_The oily stain shot up the length of the tree and out along the branches, turning everything it touched to faceted crystals. Even the fire was not immune to it. Flames froze, fire caught in ornate and intricate patterns, then spider webbed, like ice on the surface of a pond, and dissolved to sparkling dust. Where the blue stain touched the leaves, they hardened and broke away from the branches. They did not spiral to the ground: they fell and shattered with tiny tinkling sounds, while the branches, now solid piece of ice, ripped away from the trunk of the tree and crashed to the earth. Dee threw himself to one side to avoid being impaled by a three-foot length of frozen branch. Catching hold of Excalibur's hilt, he dragged the stone blade free of the ancient tree and ran for cover._

_The Yggdrasill was dying. Huge slabs of bark sheared off, like icebergs breaking away from an ice cap, and crashed to the ground, littering the beautiful Shadowrealm landscape with shards of razor-sharp ice._

_Keeping his distance and watching for falling branches, Dee raced around the tree; he needed to see Hekate._

_The Goddess with Three Faces was dying._

_Standing quite still before the crumbling Yggdrasill, Hekate was flickering through her three faces-young, mature and old-in heartbeats. The change was happening so fast that her flesh had no time to adapt and she was caught between phases: young eyes in an old faces, a girl's head on a woman's body, a woman's body with a child's arms. Her ever-changing dress had lost all color and was the same solid black as her skin._

_Dee stood beside the Morrigan and they watched in silence. Bastet rejoined them, and together the three observed Hekate and Yggdrasill's last moments._

_The World tree was now almost entirely blue, covered with a sheath of ice. Frozen roots had burst through the ground, destroying the perfect symmetry of the earth, cutting think gouges in the soil. Huge holes had speared in the massive trunk, revealing the circular rooms within, which were warped and stained with the blue ice._

_Hekate's transformation slowed. The changes were taking longer to materialize because now the blue stain was slowly creeping up her body, hardening her skin, turning it to ice crystals._

…_..What remained of the Yggdrasill was now a solid block of ice. Hekate too, was completely covered beneath a frozen sheet, though behind the blue crystals, her butter-colored eyes were bright and alive. The top of the tree began to melt, dirty water running down the length of the bark, cutting deep grooves into it._

…_..Howling his rage, Dr. John Dee spun around and flung Excalibur at the Yggdrasill. The stone blade struck the ancient World Tree, which tolled with a solemn sound of a great bell. The single note, high-pitched and serene, hung vibrating on the air…and then the Yggdrasill began to crack. Long fractures and tears ran the height of the tree. They started small, but widened as the raced upward in ragged patterns. Within moments the entire tree was covered in the crazed zigzagging._

_Then the Yggdrasill shattered and came crashing down on the ice statue of Hekate, crushing it to dust._


	2. Hekate and Ymir

No! It wasn't possible! She was dead! Crushed beneath the frozen limbs of the Yggdrasill. _Her_ Yggdrasill. She tried to be angry, to be furious. She tried to let the fury well up inside her, but every time she tried it was quenched by her surprise, guilt, and the one emotion she never thought she'd feel again: Love.

_Ymir._

He stood before her motionless, save for the flickering of his body through its textures. His ice-covered skin shifted and spun: Smooth, rigid, pointy, flat. She wanted to reach out, to feel the cold of his skin streak with warmth at her touch.

_Ymir._

Her long dead love. His cold black eyes glistening with the twin-suns light, barely noticeable through the deathly rapid-fire blizzard.

"Ymir."

Her voice came out smooth, her butter colored eyes welling up with tears.

"Hekate, my diamond, my life, my love," Ymir spoke for the first time, his voice rocky, yet alluring and beautiful.

Ymir. One of the Titans, the species that dominated Earth before the Elder Race. After the Elders had waged a war against them, and won, Odin, the Chief of the Elders, and his beautiful wife, Juno, had made sure that the Chief Titans were destroyed, mind, body, and spirit. Ymir, somehow, had escaped the destruction of the soul. If only Hekate had known sooner, if only she had known that his spirit still remained…

But unbeknownst to either the Titans or the Elders, she and the Frost Giant had been in love. Hiding their infatuation for each other, from both clans, it was the day they decided to run to the end of the Earth, away from the Great War, that Ymir had been murdered.

No, not murdered. _Annihilated._

But now she had found his spirit, his soul, the aether of his being. And now they were united. Even through death, they were together.

"My Love," the Frost Giant began, "You have been destroyed by ice, by Excalibur, the sword which I created." He breathed in deeply, savoring the last memories he would have of Hekate.

"Ymir, we are together," She was beginning to worry, her brows pulled together in confusion, "Why would that matter?" They were in a Shadowrealm, the World of Ghosts. And, probably because of her love for Ymir, she had been pulled to this particularly nasty realm. Her love's prison.

"Hekate, I have been here for eons, I know every dying secret and every living breath of this place," Something in his voice made her take a step back, eyebrow raised in suspicion. "My Dear, I can, I _must_, send you back to the world of the living.

"No! I will not leave you!"

"You have no choice; I cannot bear to watch you rot here in this place."  
"Then come with me!" Hekate pleaded, "I was the most powerful of the Elders! I can tear this Shadowrealm apart piece by piece! I can release you!"

He shook his head, eyes downcast. "No, every immortal human, Elder, Were creature, and Next Generation on the planet, plus the adjoining Shadowrealms, would hunt me down like an animal." Tears were streaming down Hekate's jet black face.

"No," She whispered, her voice barely audible.

Ymir glided in an angelic manner towards her. He slowly pressed his cold, icy lips against hers and…..

_

* * *

_

Thump, Thump, Thump.

Hekate's own heartbeat startled her; she strained to open her eyes in this new, light filled world. She was sitting on a dirt back road in Mill Valley, California. Unbeknownst to her, a large, vine encrusted hedge was slowly reforming itself behind her.

She was Alive.

But without Ymir, she was dead.

Then a thought hit: She had spent millennia, no, _eons_, in the Underworld Shadowrealm and she had spent her whole life studying the Dark Arts. And now that she knew where Ymir was, and that his soul still existed, she could bring him to life….

Then she stopped. How? If she brought him back in his ice covered body, he would be instantly destroyed by every immortal being on the face of the Earth.

But...

There was another way. It had only been attempted by one other being...ever. And it had almost worked...if the patient hadn't spontaneously burst into flames.

But she would be more careful.

There was an intricate, complicated, and extremely delicate spell that could bring back the dead; but in another's body. What if Ymir's soul could be transferred into the vessel of another being; specifically a human.

But would a humani be able to contain Ymir's power? Yes, it _was_ Ymir's soul, and his mind, just his memories would be gone.

The Goddess with Three Faces shrugged as she stood up: Ymir. Alive. It was worth a shot.

* * *

The nurse checked her clock, 6:06. Another one scuttled up to the sweated woman lying in the hospital bed, her pulse was still.

One of the other nurses handed a beautiful baby boy with dark, cold ices and a slight bluish tinge to his skin, to the female doctor. She lifted the baby into her arms. When he grew older he would be different from the other humani: Stronger, smarter, all-out better. He wouldn't remember his previous life or his eons of memories, but, worst, and best, of all, he would forget the love he felt for the Goddess with Three Faces.

"Doctor, the parents are both dead" a young nurse said, interrupting her reverie, "What will his name be?"

The Doctor regarded the girl with stunning butter-toned eyes, "We shall name him," She said, smiling down at the baby, recalling millennia of memories they had shared, "Ymir."


	3. Yggdrasill Rising

Where to begin?

Hekate stood on a nondescript back road outside of Mill Valley in California. Her hands were on her hips, her foot slowly tapping. She looked up and down a large, impenetrable hedge in front of her.

Here was the entrance.

The _old_ entrance to her Shadowrealm.

And now that she was alive, her full power restored to her, she could restart what she had created millennia ago.

She took a deep breath, and in one long stride, she stepped through the earthen wall…..

…and into nothingness.

Her Shadowrealm was still there-It probably rebuilt itself as soon as she came back to life.-but the exotic flora and fauna were gone. Everything was just dirt, with patches of grass here and there. But then what was that huge source of energy that was emanating all around her. It was an ancient and arcane source of power. But power none the less.

Then she saw it.

Yggdrasill.

It wasn't the towering skyscraper of a tree, but, sprouting fifteen feet in front of her, was a tiny, green sprout. And the energy pulsing from it could give power to New York City for a month.

She bent down, her silver dress shooting with color, like oil on water at the movement. Her jet black hands brushed against the little plant. It shivered, like it recognized her touch.

She got down low, so her lips were almost touching the little sprout, and she blew gently. Yggdrasill shivered and twitched again, but this time, as it moved in her breath, it began to grow. Slowly at first, then it began to shoot to life until it was twice the size of her, where it abruptly stopped.

"Soon, my dear Yggdrasill," She rested her palm against the soft wood as she spoke. She began to hum a sad, yet hopeful, melody. The World Tree began to grow, slowly, again. She turned away from it, and began to focus her magical power on the rest of the Shadowrealm.

Where were her precious servants and protectors? The Torc Allta? Lizard Nathair? Or any of the other myriad mythological beings who lived in her Shadowrealm.

A deep growl began at the back of her throat.

Bastet.

The Morrigan.

Dr. John Dee.

They had been responsible for the destruction of her dear creatures and her home. Her Yggdrasill included.

But beyond that, beyond what could be simply repaired by her power over magic, they had been responsible for her death.

An ugly, poisonous, acid-filled smile stretched across her face. Revenge. The feeling coursed through her like a drug. It made her heart beat rapidly, it made whips and sparks of energy crack off her, hissing and spitting in the air around her. She had a plan. A devious, evil, wretched plan. One that would be put into action, as soon as her home was restored.

The Goddess with Three Faces whirled around, still in her matron form. She looked up at the Shadowrealm's afternoon sun before striding to the World Tree. She laid her hands on its think trunk, and, in response to her touch, the Yggdrasill began to moan and sing. Green sparks of power sizzled off of it, flowing on and into her black skin.

"Give me your power, and I will share mine with you," She chanted, her eyes had become flat gold coins, "Together, we will rebuild our Shadowrealm, and together, we will destroy the Dark Elders.

With that, the Yggdrasill shot back to life, towering above the brown earth all around it, and together, the two, through each other's power, became, once again, invincible.


	4. Shadowrealm Awakened

Yggdrasill was there; towering and powerful, like a natural skyscraper. Its top limbs were intertwined with the clouds. Hekate looked up; the sun was just now rising. It had taken her al the way until midnight to restore Yggdrasill. Then she had rested, and now she was returned to her maiden from. She looked at herself; she guessed she looked about nine years old. She laughed to herself; she would never get over seeing herself so youthful after all the millennia she had lived.

What was wrong with her? Ever since her "rebirth", you could call it, she had been so…so…what was the word? _Emotional._ Yes, that was it. She had been so emotional: smiling, laughing, etc. She had never been like this, not since….

She pursed her lips. Since Ymir had been alive. And now, that's he knew, somewhere, in some form, he was alive, she guessed it made her…_happy._

She turned her back on the World Tree, the sudden, jerky, movement sending thrills of color down her silver dress.

She had all day. All day to restore her home.

Hekate raised her arms, when she realized: Where to start? Back to step one, she figured. Before, she had been searching for that source of power, when she found the Yggdrasill, so she was kept busy before actual work needed to be started on the restoration of her Shadowrealm.

But now, now she could focus _all_ of her power, he magic, on awakening her home. And with the energy from Yggdrasill feeding her now, her power was practically unlimited; which was good, considering she needed an unlimited supply of it to restore her world: her home.

And now: Where to start?

She smiled to herself; she knew. Her "guards", which were practically useless until the moon rose high in the sky and she needed to rest: which was when she was at her most vulnerable, needed to be called back. The large amount of them that were killed in Bastet, the Morrigan, and Dee's siege had other clan members; others that would gladly join her, knowing that sometime, somewhere, they're lost ones death could be avenged by their hands.

And the Goddess with Three Faces knew just which guards too call first.

The Torc Allta.

She bent down to the dry dirt and picked up a handful of gravel in her hand. She lifted herself back up, and took the pebbles of earth, and began speaking in an ancient language that sounded like a composition of insects buzzing. When she had finished the chant, she breathed into the dirt, scattering it in the wind.

A low rumbling signified the coming of the Wereboar. The shaking grew stronger and louder, until everything-the trees, grass, and prehistoric plants-were shaking.

Abruptly, the Torc Allta, about thirty of them, burst through the great hedge that stood as the entrance to her Shadowrealm.

The largest of them, a gigantic, muscled, red boar, grunted slowly until it was only inches from the goddess' face. The two locked eyes for a few seconds, coming to a silent agreement, when the boar slowly knelled on its front legs, its head bristles scrapping the dry earth.

Hekate motioned aimlessly to her left as she spoke, "Go, set up your home with the World Tree," then he turned to a white boar, one of the few females, and said, "Summon the Lizard Nathair, you know what to do and where to find it."

With that the Torc Allta bust into action, stampeding around the incredibly ancient elder and assumed positions throughout Yggdrasill and around the tree, save for the young white boar, who quickly scuttled through the twenty foot doors of the World Tree (which opened of their own accord) and ran of the intricate stairwell.

Hekate turned her head back to the west. She breathed deeply, she could already felt he presence of myriad ghosts in her realm, which would serve to frighten off any attackers. But she needed something more, something more _powerful_.

Then she smiled evilly to herself. She knew just what…

At that moment, a loud conch shell was blown from high in the World Tree.

The sky began to turn to a pale green, the sun hidden by emerald clouds. The Lizard Nathair soared through the sky, their cries, screeches, and screams echoed through the endless reaches of the Shadowrealm. They landed; large raptor clawed gripping tightly, on the topmost branches of the Yggdrasill, heads tilting to the side in curiosity.

Two down, one to go, she thought.

She motioned to a little branch lying on the dirt path she was standing on. It twitched twice, and then flew to her hand. She bent down and drew a light circle around herself. She threw the twig aside, and began to recite an incantation that Yggdrasill itself had taught her.

Screams echoed from the endless beyond. Spirits that were made of wind, but vaguely human faces were visible, began to fly in from all around her; screaming and singing their stories of sorrow and despair.

The Banshee.

The three powerful creatures now owed their allegiance to her. And, no doubt, they would call they're sister-species to join them. The fauna of her Shadowrealm had returned.

She spread her hands out to her side as she walked back towards the World Tree. Where her hands were pointed, trees, plants, shrubs, bushes, flowers, all kinds of flora sprouted and bust to life. She continued walking this way, concentrating on restoring the plant life to her home, until she reached the Great Hall of the great tree.

Hekate, the Goddess with Three Faces, had restored her Shadowrealm. Her guards and soldiers, along with other creatures from the darkest ages of myth, had returned, bringing some not so familiar species with them. The plant life had returned, bursting into bloom. She had always loved the prehistoric flowers and trees, they reminded of her youth. She glanced up at the sky: it had been reconstructed to look just the way she remembered it from before the time of Danu Talis or that wretched Abraham the Mage.

"Hasn't changed in ten-thousand years," she said with a smile, before turning and striding into the Yggdrasill, into her past, her present, and the inevitable future.


	5. The Grand Architect

The Goddess with Three Faces was aggravated.

She was sitting at her large circular table that was on a raised branch shooting out from the wall. A twisting staircase connected the seemingly-hovering platform to the ground of the Yggdrasill.

The Chief of the Torc Allta, Ultor, was sitting across from her, with four other Wereboar sitting on his side, two to his left, and two to his right. Various other were-creatures sat around the table, each clan had sent an ambassador to the meeting; Hekate had helped restore the Were-clans, and so they still worshipped her, and they all stood waiting for when their tribe would be needed to benefit their goddess. Three of the Lizard Nathair perched themselves atop the white wood railing, eyeing the others with curiosity. The Banshee floated high above them, singing their death-songs. Ghosts shifted in and out of view all around them. They all shifted uncomfortably, save for Hekate, as they heard and felt, but didn't see, other creatures lurking in corridors and hallways all around them, waiting for the verdict of the counsel.

And the Goddess with Three Faces was aggravated.

It had been six months since the restoration of her Shadowrealm. The Yggdrasill had been restored to its former glory, and her army had been collected from various parts of the world. And now it was time to put that force to work.

But, unfortunately, there was one single missing piece to her plan: Power.

She had all energy, elements, and magical forces at her disposal; except for one.

Although she was still infinitely more powerful (and dangerous) than many of the Dark elders, she still saw defeat on the horizon could she not master what only one other had mastered: The Fifth Element, the element that was even out of the Elder Race's control. And that force, that power, was Time.

She had heard of it only as being used as an element when Nicholas Flamel had visited her. Unbeknownst to him, everything spoken, or even thought, in her Shadowrealm, she could hear.

That was also when she had heard the plan of Perenelle Flamel.

The Sorceress was always a fighter. Many a time had she urged Nicholas to stop running; to gather every Elder, Immortal Human, and Next generation that stood alongside the humani and wage a war against he Dark Elders. But he had been obsessed with finding the Twins of Legend: Gold and Silver, Sun and Moon. But that was another story altogether.

But as soon as she had heard the plan of Perenelles, a tiny, minute seed had been planted. And then, after her murder by the Dark Elders, that seed had been watered and fed. And now, at her rebirth, had that seed grown and had become something dark and vengeful.

But first, she had to make herself _almighty_. Even Odin, the Chief of the Gods, couldn't control the Element of Time. But, unlike him, she knew where to get it. And she would stop at nothing to have power over it.

"My Queen," the ambassador of the Torc Tiogar clan spoke emotionless, "Gaining control over the Fifth Element is the, er, _Grand Architect_, if you will, of your plan."

"I know that, you fool!" Hekate hissed, she hated it when people told her things eh already knew. It was like they were implying that she was somehow inferior. "If I can master it, I will be of infinite power compared to the other Elders."

The ambassador shook his head, his eyes closed. "No, My Goddess, that's not what I mean." Hekate raised an eyebrow in curiosity, what did he mean then? "Time, also controls _age_."

She nodded. Now she understood.

The only thing that would ever stand in her way of a fight was her age. How she would change through the day: slowly getting older and older, until midnight, in which time she would "die", and be reborn in the morning.

And during her sleep, she was at her most vulnerable.

If she could control the Fifth Element, she could control the aging process, and with it, her durability during a fight would be almost limitless.

The other creatures nodded in agreement, understanding what the Weretiger meant.

"Well then," the leader of the Lizard Nathair said, its lips unmoving, but the sound clearly echoing through the council member's heads, "There is no argument. Hekate, you know what you must do. There is no question about it."

Everyone nodded their heads again: no one argued with a Lizard Nathair. They were one of the wisest creatures in the known world. And the rows of overlarge fangs in their mouths helped, too.


	6. Seeking Eternity: Part 1

Hekate was going south.

Because the Witch was south.

And she needed the Witch.

The Witch of Endor.

The Goddess with Three Faces needed to control the elusive Fifth Element, an element that only two of the Elder Race could control; and neither of them could _completely _control it.

Endor could control Time mentally: she could see the winding strands of time, the possible future and, occasionally, the past or present.

The Witch's power was, of course, limited. The future wouldn't ever be certain, not while the possibility of a different future existed, which always did. If only that stupid Abraham the Mage was still alive. He could actually see the future, exactly how it was going to unfold. But then she shrugged, she'd rather have the blasted magician dead right now.

Hekate had to shift through myriad Shadowrealm because of her weakness to the artificial metal of iron. All of the Elder race and Next Generation were easily killed by iron. After all, it had been iron that destroyed the Elder Times, and had sunk Danu Talis. Every creature who witnessed that day remembered it the same: The day the World Ended.

She was coming close to Ojai, the home of the Witch of Endor, in southern California. She had just stepped out of an extremely wet Shadowrealm, when she suddenly found herself in front of Dora Witcherly Antiques.

Hekate smiled to herself. The Witch of Endor always liked to blend in with the human, after all, she had been the one, along with her brother, Prometheus, that colonized the early Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon.

The incredibly ancient Elder took a deep breath, and, in one long stride, stepped through the door.

A small bell signaled her entrance. Hekate looked up at it, and it immediately started to rust and in less then three seconds, it had collapse into a pile of dust. And that was when she spotted her.

Sitting on a small stool sat the Witch of Endor. She was resting both her hands on an extendable seeing pole, her long, manicured fingers tapping slowly on it's handle. She was wearing her typical black glasses, covering the true look of her eyes. Hekate smiled evilly, what lay behind those glasses was the reason she had come.

"So, what I have seen was true," The Witch said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"And what is it you have seen, Endor?"

She waved her hand dismissively, "I saw many things. In some stands of time I saw Ymir kill you; overcome with hunger for your soul. In another I saw you refuse to leave him, and you got into a fight, and you killed him, destroying the Shadowrealm and the neighboring worlds too. And yet, in others I saw you let Ymir free, but you were forever trapped there." She sighed bringing her palm back onto the pole. "And only a few months ago had I seen the future that had come to pass."

"Then you know why I come?" Hekate said, raising an eyebrow in suspicion, and what may have been curiosity.

"I do not know why you have come, Hekate, but I do know of your plans, your plans to mass an army and to topple the Dark El-."

"You know nothing, Witch!" Hekate roared. How dare she! She was an old Elder, but surely she had grown dull in her years. Why else would she dare to speak to Hekate that way?

"Hekate…" Endor warned, tying to calm her.

The Goddess with Three Faces looked outside the tinted glass windows that lined the front wall of the building. The sun would set in a matter of hours, and she could already feel the age upon her face. The Witch of Endor would not hesitate to remove her from her home. And, no doubt, the Witch would go into hiding, somewhere where even the legendary tracker Selene, a renowned Elder huntress, wouldn't be able to find her.

"I'm sorry Endor, it was not my place to raise my voice to you," She said, her voice calm and sympathetic, before turning black and old again. "But I need something only you have. And I will not leave here without it."

Before the Witch had time to react, Hekate was in front of her, pressing her right thumb against her forehead. Endor collapsed into her jet black arms, unconscious.

"Shh, shh, shhhh," She whispered into prophetic Elder's ear, "Sleep now. Just Sleep."

* * *

Hekate's face was turned in concentration. Was it worth it? The sacrifice necessary just to gain revenge against the Dark Elders? She didn't want to dwell on that question too long, in case she changed her mind.

The Witch of Endor lay on the ground, "sleeping". Bending down beside her limp body, Hekate kissed her closed eyes, whispering an ancient incantation. She laid one of her hands against the right side of Endor's face, and another hand on the same side of her own face.

With a rasping gasp, the Witch woke suddenly. Hekate, using all her strength to hold the struggling Elder down, continued reciting the spell without interruption.

And then, in unison, the two screamed a shrill and high-pitched yell of pain that was far beyond human hearing. And then, at once, every piece of glass within a mile radius, shattered.

* * *

Hekate was in Yggdrasill, pacing in circles around a giant pool of crystal water filled with giant lilies and koi fish. A crystal clear waterfall poured out of an invisible opening in the tree and poured into the pond.

It had worked.

The Witch had been horrified at what Hekate had done. But, of course, she would not appose her. Especially now that she had a power that even the legendary Witch of Endor wasn't immune to.

Time.

The Goddess with Three Faces could now see the curling strands of time, and had mastered the Fifth Element mentally. But she had to pay a hefty price: The Witch of Endor could see everything Hekate saw.

She turned her head to look down at her reflection in the pool. The left side of her face looked now different, save for a certain type of smugness and power that eminated from her expression.

It was the left side of her face that had changed for the first time since to beginning of the Elder Age.

Her golden iris had changed color: It had transformed into a brilliant silver. She blinked twice, not believing what she saw. This wasn't her eye.

It was the Witch of Endor's eye.

It had been necessary to trade eyes, even against Endor's will, as the first step in mastering the Fifth Element. And now, she could see the curling strands of time.

A tear slid down her jet black cheek, and, for the first time since she had devised the plan, he began to wonder if it really was worth it.

The she swallowed back her regret and sadness, and strode into the deep corridors of the Yggdrasill, just as the moon slid into its topmost position in the black, midnight sky.


	7. Seeking Eternity: Part 2

Thoughts began to swirl inside the immortal beings head. Thoughts that she had no control over. Thoughts that she didn't want to confront.

Was it worth it? She had been forced to give up her own eyeball, and steal the Witch of Endor's to replace it, just to see through time: the first step of two in mastering the all-powerful and elusive fifth element.

Was it worth it going through all this trouble to mass an army to destroy the Dark Elders whom she knew could only be stopped by killing them all, which would only cause to offend the other related Elders?

She had come to a conclusion: The war against the Dark Elders would not take place. It would end only in vain, and she knew it.

But, her revenge was imminent. Inevitable. So, she decided, she would focus every last inch on her power on destroying those who had destroyed her.

Those who had killed her.

She blinked, once, twice, when she realized that she was looking down on the huge crystal blue pool that was located in the Grand Hall to the Yggdrasill. She looked up from the still waters and watched the Torc Allta clear off a massive wooden table on an elevated branch.

They wee so calm; so serene. Did they not know? Were they unaware of the ancient Elder coming to the Shadowrealm to confront her?

Chronos.

She had sent him a very persuasive letter (by Lizard Nathair of course) inviting him to indulge in the grandeur and splendor of her home.

He had no idea that she had been murdered. No idea that the only reason she was inviting him to her home was to steal his power. To kill him.

Chronos, a vile and easily loathed Elder, had the unique power of being able to dip through time. There were, of course, certain rules that applied to time travel. Like how it was impossible to travel into the future, because once you entered the future, it became the present, and then you were back to where you started. Hekate shrugged: She had no urge to actually _visit_ the future. It was way too complicated.

You could, although, travel back in time, although you could not change the past. You could however, take someone or something from the past and bring them to the present, and depositing them back at the exact moment you transported them. Doing so would cause no tear in reality and the future would not change.

There was an electric noise echoing from one of the many chambers above Hekate, and the goddess immediately felt the rise in pressure in the air by the waves of energy emitting from the powerful Elder whom had now entered her domain.

Another perk of time travel, was the ability to stop time. It wasn't an actual freezing of time, but more of a slower version of it. It would be like moving so fast, that the rest of the world looked like it wasn't moving at all. This ability, in a battle, would make your enemy fight an invisible attacker. And it also helped in speedy transportation.

And at that moment, while the Goddess with Three Faces was trapped in deep thought, the Elder of Time stepped out of one of the myriad rooms in the World Tree, and, for the first time in eons, rested his gaze upon the solid black figure standing before a pool of crystalline water.

Hekate glanced up at him, not forgetting to feint surprise at his entrance. Chronos, like many of the Elders, were vain.

She was particularly surprised by how he looked. He had a gray-white beard, although the rest of him was entirely youthful. His storm cloud eyes sparkled with arcane knowledge. His snow white wings flapped carelessly behind him where they sprouted from his back. He wore a loosely fitting tan cloth around his waste, but other than that, his body was bare. His body was a light tan and smooth, unlike the wrinkles that you would expect from someone who represented age. He carried a long scythe that shimmered with new sharpness. A black raven perched on his shoulder, tilting its head in curiosity at the all-mighty goddess below it. And she noticed a pitched black hour glass symbol tattooed over the spot where is heart was.

The tall, elegant Elder glided on his soft, albino wings and landed silently on the ground. He looked at Hekate with his stone gray eyes and then bowed deeply.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet the legendary Hekate," Chronos said, genuine awe in his voice.

The Goddess with Three Faces didn't speak, but kept her eyes glued to the swirling pond, following the giant koi's movements.'

The Elder of Time sighed deeply. He closed the distance between them in one long stride, ending up standing right behind her. He began to breathe along the back of her neck, making her hair stand on end. "See, this isn't so bad, is it?" He lifted his tan hand and…..

…..Hekate whirled around and grabbed his wrist with her jet black hand. "Don't…Touch…Me." She said slowly, emphasizing each word.

Chronos smiled. "Hekate, how could you ever forget what we once shared?"

The incredibly ancient Elder looked away. She may have, just one tiny little moment millions of years ago, pretended to love him. It was just all in a desperate attempt to bring Ymir back to life. But, unfortunately, Chronos had not been at the legendary Battle of the Red Moon, the final battle that ended the Great War. And you cannot revisit a time you have not been too.

"We shared nothing." She spat. She wanted, needed, to turn away and rebuke him from her Shadowrealm, but she needed his power. And these things had to be handled with care and delicacy.

He spoke calmly, "But, my Love…"

"Go to Hell, Chronos," Hekate said, whirling around and latching her suddenly clawed hand at his throat. She lifted him up above the earthen ground, a low, rumbling snarl echoing from the back of her throat.

He rolled his eyes, unaffected by her threats. "I'm not afraid."

"You should be afraid," She growled, "You should be terrified."

His serene eyes suddenly filled with horror. Hekate grinned menacingly. He knew hwat he had just realized. And it gave her pleasure.

"Hekate…" He began.

"No, Chronos. No more."

And in the moments before his desperate plee, the Elder of Time realized that he would die.

* * *

And that was when the battle for his life began.

When his throat was enclosed in Hekate's tight grasp, he flapped his feathery wings, twirling and gusting up dust and sand into her eyes. She released her grip, wiping the dirt from her face.

He rose to the air, high above her reach.

When the Goddess had recovered, she lifted her hands and let loose a gush of fire towards him. The fiery tornado burst all around him, singing his wings.

Chronos hurtled to the ground, crashing hard. He stood up slowly. He would have to fight her in hand-to-hand combat.

But there was one fatal flaw.

He had failed to realize that Hekate had absorbed the Witch of Endor's powers. So as soon as he punched, lunged, or kicked, she would see the hit coming, and block or dodge it. Then she would react by hitting harder and more powerful than the blow before it. Chronos wouldn't see the hit coming, and he had discovered that there was no fighting this almighty, all-powerful goddess. Her power was immense. It even rivaled, if not eclipsed, Odin's power. There was no battling her. There was no winning this fight. And, deep in his gut, he knew there was no escape.

"Oh Chronos, don't worry," Hekate said, a devilish happiness rippling through her voice. "Everything is going according to plan."

The Elder of Time decided to use the last option he had. He whipped out every last drop of energy he had to warp back in time. He closed his eyes in concentration, and when he opened his eyes…..

…..He was still there. He hadn't moved. He attempted to use his time powers, warping, traveling, soaring, anything. But nothing would work.

And then he understood.

Yggdrasill.

It absorbed energy. _His _energy. The Goddess with Three Faces had planned this perfectly. She had stalled him long enough to render his rare ability useless.

Hekate smiled a jagged, twisted smile as she slowly pulled out a black marble dagger from behind her back.

"I'm not sorry," She whispered as she plunged the knife deep into his heart…..

* * *

She lifted the crystal goblet into the view of the artificial sun of her Shadowrealm, the light sending crimson diamonds sparkling all around her.

Hekate ignored the sliced, bloody body laying behind her in the pool of clear blue water, it's wings stained with the blood of his heart.

"I'm not sorry" she repeated quietly, as she lifted the goblet to her lips, drinking the thick, ruby liquid. It had a sweet, metallic taste.

As she drank, a collage of rainbow colors exploded around her, pulsing in brightness.

She continued to drink the ugly blood as she slowly mastered the Fifth Element of Time.

And became the most powerful Elder in existence.


	8. The Gathering: Rangda

The pale figure looked out across the flashing crimson waves. The sky was a pitch black, just like the volcanic sand that she stood on. The moon was a deathly white, and the tropical trees, bushes, and flowers not far behind her created an impenetrable, sable wall of darkness.

No stars dotted the sky. No shells dotted the shore. No animals lurked in the bloody waves.

Because this was her punishment.

Her own little slice of Hell.

As the demonic witch watched the moon stay in the exact same place it had since she had been imprisoned here, she let out a blood-curdling scream and slowly endured her endless torture.

* * *

Hekate was running, tearing her long multi-colored fingernails through the air, attempting to rip a hole in the very fabric of reality.

Why hadn't she been there?

She shook her head, coming to a stop. She opened her eyes and took in the dense, frozen wasteland that was known to the humani as Antarctica.

This was where the portal was. She was positive.

The Goddess with Three Faces needed her allies. She knew many Elders who held grudges against Bastet, the Morrigan, and Dr. John Dee. So many who wouldn't hesitate in assisting in their destruction. But she knew of only one goddess (more like demon) who would stop at nothing to see her sister dead.

There had been four of them. The Morrigan, the Macha, and the Badb are the ones mythology is familiar with. But there was another.

Rangda.

A demonic witch who loathed her half-sisters. But, unfortunately, she had been imprisoned in a Shadowrealm that myriad Elders had created specifically for her containment. The Elder Race feared Rangda. She was extremely powerful for a Next Generation. So they created a Shadowrealm and forced her into it. And they put the portal to it in the most remote places of the humani age.

Antarctica.

Hidden deep within the Gamburtsev Mountain Range. Which hadn't even existed before the Elders created it to contain the entrance to Rangda's Shadowrealm. According to the humani, it wasn't even supposed to be there. Which, Hekate guessed, was true.

She shook her head again and looked down almost twelve-thousand feet below her, down at the shifting, churning ice sheet that was based at the bottom of the mountain range.

And that's when she smelled it.

A gentle breeze wafted around her and caressed her dress, sending waves of neon color shooting across the silver fabric. She was in her maiden form, despite the high position of the full moon. It didn't matter what time it was; she could control time, and, with it, age.

Rose.

It was undeniable. The royal fragrance was lifting the air around it into joyous song, whispering and murmuring around the goddess. But that aroma was special: it was the auric scent if Rangda. She had a bloody red aura, streaked with black veins and lines. It was the Rose Aura. And Rangda was just like a rose. Alluring with her beauty, and when she brings you in close, she'll choke you with her deathly sharp thorns.

The Thorn.

That was what the Elders had called her. And her title served her well, describing her perfectly to the very last bit.

In Indonesia, the remote chain of islands where she was worshipped, they had depicted her as an hideous, dragon-like woman. But she was far from ugly. But the legends about her devouring young babies and pregnant women: Hekate had no idea if they were true, although she suspected they were.

She followed the rich fragrance until she stopped at a strange site before her. A red diamond. A _Blood_ diamond. And it was the gateway to the prison Shadowrealm. Hekate laid her hands on the shining jewel and focused her aura. Neon green tendrils of mist curled down her arm as the scent of lime mixed with the smell of rose. The diamond reflected the emerald light and the world suddenly started to fold in on itself. The laws of reality refocused and disoriented as the Goddess with Three Faces lowered the impenetrable wall that encased Rangda's prison.

And then the world melted away, and everything turned black.

* * *

Rangda's screaming ceased as she felt the change in atmosphere. She felt more…free. Like the border that encamped the very limits of her prison had been ripped down and she was free to go free. But it was impossible. Like her mother, Echidna, she had been feared by even the Dark Elders. Rangda and the Crow triad had the same father, Set, but had different mothers. While they were the triplet daughters of the violet war goddess Aeron, she was the daughter of what the Elder Race called a "monster". But Echidna had been so much more. She had been a visionary…..

A sudden rustling in the dense foliage behind her startled her reverie. Someone was here. There was no other explanation. There were no animals, insects, or birds here. There was no wind. And considering she hadn't even gone into the tropical jungle, there was no reason the leaves would even be "settling".

No. She was not alone. And the person, the _being_, with her, was incredibly powerful. A level of power never seen among the Elders since Danu Talis, when the original twins sat atop the Pyramid of the Sun. But that had been long before Rangda had been born. But her mother had told her stories. And she was sure that this creature's power was infinite. And it was there to either save her, or kill her.

It took Hekate only a few seconds to realize what she had first thought was black emptiness was really a deep tropical forest. She had slowly, blindly, guided herself through the foliage when she saw specks of red through the palm trees. It was the legendary Ocean of Crimson that encircled the island.

Hekate heard the minute gasp that escaped Rangda's lips as she withdrew herself from the trees and laid her midnight black feet on the cold similar colored sand. The powerful Elder noted the endless sea of red that stretched forever and on behind The Thorn, and she had no doubt in her mind of what the ocean was made out of. This place would only be a paradise to one species alone: The blood-drinking Vampires. They could not resist the metallic smell of the ocean. The ocean of blood.

"Impossible," Rangda whispered to herself, barely believing what she saw, red lines streaking through her hair.

Hekate sized her up with silver and gold eyes. She knew that the witch was _beautiful_, but she had no idea just how gorgeous the Next Generation was.

She had snow white skin, like her father, and cold red eyes. She wore a tight piece of black cloth that wound around her upper torso, and a short sable skirt at her waist. She had curved, long; black fingernails that looked like someone had attacked them with a Sharpie. And then there was the red.

All the Elders knew about Rangda's strange appearance. Whenever she felt extreme emotion, her dress would turn blood red, and her hair would turn the same deadly shade. Her eyes though would shift from red to black. This was the reason that she had been given the title the Two-Faced one. Although only her appearance changed, and not her physical or mental status, like Hekate once had.

"Rangda, I am in need of your abilities," She said, emotionless. "Am I correct when I say that you still hold a grudge against your sisters for telling the Elders how to imprison you?"

"That and more," The Thorn hissed, a slight Jamaican accent. Hekate knew she didn't mean any disrespect at the tone of the comment, but she could not control the bitter hatred for her half-sisters flood her voice.

"The Badb and the Macha are dead," She said flatly, "Murdered by the Morrigan."

Rangda took an automatic step back, shock plastered across her face. Again, red veins shooting through her hair and clothes.

"But the Crow Goddess is yours for the kill, if you want her."

"Yes," She snarled, "I will not let her die without her blood being on _my_ hands."

"Good." Hekate walked beside her and bent low, drawing a wide circle in the sand around them. The circle began to glow bitter red, shooting up waves of energy along the shallow lines. "We must gather our allies."

Rangda raised a thin black eyebrow. "Who?"

"Your Uncle, my brother," The goddess said as the light formed a dome around them and they were second's away from phasing back into the world of the living.

"Shiva, the Destroyer."


	9. The Gathering: Shiva

The two strange acquaintances looked out through the tinted, black windows of the limousine. Hekate motioned for the driver to press on. He wasn't disturbed by the powerful Elders sitting in the back seats because the chauffer was in no way human.

"It's been so long," Rangda whispered in shock at the bustling metropolis around her. "So much has changed."

Hekate nodded, "The humani are slowly destroying themselves. But, in their defense, they have come a long way for being such a young, primitive race."

"The last time I saw the world of the humans was when the Indus Valley was just flourishing into it's golden age."

The sleek, black vehicle came to a stop next to a cracked and ancient sidewalk. The incredibly ancient Elder and the once-imprisoned Next Generation stepped out of the car and stood motionless on the walkway.

There was no one around to see their shockingly unique characteristics. Nothing moved around them. Everything was still, silent.

Hekate took a step into the large, creviced, empty parking lot. Ahead of her was a huge, empty, warehouse-looking building. There were multiple floors, many of which had caved in from destruction.

"Why would Shiva wish to come here? To _this_ dying city?" The Thorn asked bitterly.

" Los Angeles is chaotic. There is no system. This city thrives on destruction and discord. So does Shiva." The Goddess with Three Faces answered as she quickly, yet silently, across the wide parking lot towards the large, falling apart building.

She stepped up to what looked like a splintered, old door. Rangda raised an eyebrow in a silent question beside her. Hekate smiled and held her hand up to the door. Shards of rainbow collected at her palm, and then, suddenly, a tie-dye bolt of energy shot at the door, ripping it off its hinges.

She bent down and picked it up, pointing to the thick side of it. There was an eight inch steel panel running along the outer edge of the door which they both knew that the door was made the exact same way.

"Paranoia much?" Rangda muttered as she stepped inside.

Hekate dropped the steel door and walked in as well. She looked around, her lips drawn into a tight, thin line. The building had obviously been devastated by a fire…..decades ago. The inside was scorched black, the floor splintered and charred. The ceiling was collapsing, and wide hole exposed the upper level in some places.

"Wha-…What happened?" Rangda stuttered, unsure of what was going on.

The goddess strode around the shocked Next Generation and walked up to a long, nondescript wall. She put her hands in specific spots, and pushed. Two wide circles appeared where she pushed. She spun them one way, and then the next until a deniable "click" echoed through the room.

The wall split in two, revealing another gray wall behind it, engraved with a giant lotus flower. The goddess spoke something in an inconceivable language that sounded like insect buzzing, and the flower's petals began to turn until they too clicked into position, and the petal pulled away, revealing a strange scene behind them.

A dark room lay forth in front of them. There was a small square for them to sit on, but after that spread a dark pond of shining water, black square stepping stones a few feet from each other. They led up to a bigger pedestal that was made like a pyramid, flat on the top where someone sat.

Some_thing_.

Shiva, the Destroyer.

Millennia ago he had destroyed myriad civilization. But, despite his destructive powers, he was righteous and only decimated the wicked. He had destroyed Pompeii for their drunkenness, Sodom and Gomorra for their just plain evil, and he had even destroyed Ancient Egypt after they had been brutal to their slaves.

He was clothed in black jeans with a tight black shirt, exposing his lean, sinewy, muscled body. He had albino pale skin that looked grayish with the green tint in it. He had startling green eyes, with thick eyelashes that made him more attractive than feminine. This beautiful being _was_ Shiva the Destroyer.

Hekate put her hand to Rangda's torso, applying minimal pressure, but she knew she could produce thousand times that power. The goddess began to walk across the pond on the wobbly stepping squares. Shiva's back was to her, his face hidden. His dark, short hair shined from the eerie glow that reflected from the pond of water. Lilies floated through the water, translucent humanoid creatures swam through he dark waters, flashing their sharp, pointed teeth.

Rangda decided to stay where she was.

The Goddess with Three Faces leaned her thin lips against his ear. She spoke rapid-fire, and then straightened her spine. Shiva turned his head slightly, so that Rangda could see his profile, and his mouth opened, but no words came out. He stood up quickly, and turned to the stepping stone, but instead, he just walked across the water, immune to gravity trying to pull him under.

The Destroyer passed the demon witch with little more than a tilt of his head to acknowledge his presence.

"It is time for you to go," He said, politely banishing them from his home.

"Bastet lives, Shiva," Hekate said sharply, still on the other side of the pond.

He stopped suddenly, shock plastered across his face. He couldn't resist releasing a snarl from the back of his throat. "Bastet."

"She is yours, if you join me," Hekate knew about the rivalry between the two powerful Elders.

Eons ago Bastet had gone to Shiva's mother, the Earth Mother Gaea, and had requested to be given the knowledge to destroy the powerful Elders that stood in the Dark Elder's conquest. She had refused, so Bastet had attacked her. Gaea, being one of the most powerful Elders, cast the Cat Goddess into a fiery Shadowrealm. Years later, when Bastet had escaped, she had tried to kill the Earth Mother, and would've succeeded, if Shiva had not ultimately destroyed her. At least he had thought he had destroyed her, only now had he finally learned the truth that his arch-enemy lived.

"Bastet, is mine," He said calmly. He was the righteous one. And he was a righteous fighter too. He would not indulge in torture like Rangda would to her sister. But she needed a powerful thinking Elder on her side. Shiva looked at Hekate, his bright eyes full of anxiety. "The battle had begun."

"The battle has begun, and will end in the Dark Elders bloodshed." Rangda said happily.

Shiva nodded, and with that, the two almighty Elders, and the powerful Next Generation, walked out into the dark night, embracing their blood-stained destiny.

--------------------------------

* * *

Ok everyone, sorry about the cliff-hnager, but this ill be the lost Hekate post until Thursday, Jnauary 29th, I'm going on a trip, and I can't work on it there. AGAIN, SORRY FOR THE CLIFF-HANGER!!!


	10. Blood Betrayal

The quiet, morbid figure walked slowly and silently down the winding halls of the Yggdrasill. She was the only one awake, and she would use that to her obsessive advantage.

Rangda glanced out a small window, through it she could see a giant, featureless moon, hanging in the sky. She hissed at it's beauty and continued her march to the room of the one she had come for.

The one who had released her.

Hekate, the Goddess with Three Faces.

As the Two Faced One reached the bottom of the World Tree, she stepped up to the crystal pond floating in the center of the great hall. She brushed her albino fingers against the still waters, turning the fountain red with blood.

She jerked her head up as she heard low grunting coming from a long hallway not far from where she was standing.

The Torc Allta.

She slowly walked up behind one in human form and grabbed him around the mouth to keep him from yelling as she took the black marble dagger and slit his throat open with it. She ignored the desire to drink his blood as she waked past him, doing the same to the other wereboar guards.

She reached a large gateway with two wooden doors with strange, arcane markings on them. Rangda slowly reached for the white handles when suddenly…..

…..her world exploded.

She was ripped back by a sudden gust of air, throwing the dagger from her hand. Rangda crashed into the blood pond with a loud crashing sound.

She whirled to her feet and hissed into the empty darkness.

Only it wasn't empty, not to her. Because something powerful had been able to manipulate her. And few Elders could control another. Only the most almighty could bend another being against it's will. And Hekate was sleeping, and Shiva had remained in the topmost branches with the Lizard Nathair. Meaning someone, some_thing_, was there.

A tall, perfect woman stepped out of the shadows, into the midnight light. She wore a long, flowing green gown that hang tightly to her body. Pink and white flowers intertwined themselves around her. She had a crown of Japanese blossoms in her raven hair. Her eyes were a startling neon green.

Rangda caught her breathe, "Impossible…"

The woman held up her hand. The lines and indents on her perfectly soft and smooth palm began to glow with a shallow halo of white light as the powerful Elder focused her aura into her hand.

"You will not harm my sister, Rangda," The woman said, her voice like beautiful ivy.

Rangda slowly was lifted off the ground, clutching at an invisible hand grasping her throat to the point of suffocation.

"You will return to your prison, where you will fulfill the rest of your punishment…" She paused, looking deep into Rangda's eyes, even thought hey were fifteen feet away from each other, "…for all eternity."

The Thorn focused all her power into fireworks and bolts of energy to shoot at the almighty goddess. But the energy just merely absorbed into her skin, turning a harsh white.

"Danu…" She whispered the Elder's name like a curse. Danu ignored her as she choked out her words. "Juno…" And with that, Rangda immediately disappeared, leaving behind only the faint smell of roses, covered by the powerful scent of honeysuckle from the goddess' aura.

"I am Juno, but I am also Danu," She said softly to the darkness and shadow, "But I know who I always have been, and who I always will be. And no one can change that." Danu reached down and touched the red water, and turned it back o it's crystal form. "True beauty…" She whispered to herself as the moon slowly set beyond the horizon……


	11. Shining Vengeance

Hekate swung the large doors that led to her room open in her fury. She ignored the bodies of the Torc Allta laying around her as she strode to the Great Hall. The smell of roses hit her suddenly, and she stopped.

Rangda.

She had done this. She was a traitor, a turncoat, Judas, Brutus! Hekate would make sure she spent the next fifty eons in a Shadowrealm specifically of her making. One that would torture Rangda until she begged for mercy and forgiveness, and only then would Hekate make the torture even greater. She would never forgive her niece, not until her blood was presented to her in a goblet and her head on a stick.

The goddess slammed through the last doors and…

…Stopped.

Standing, her back to the almighty Elder, was a beautiful, shining, _powerful_ goddess. One who had not walked in the world on man since the Roman Empire.

Danu.

The almighty wife of Odin, Chief of the Elders. She was second only to Hekate in power, although her powers were strictly for growth and prosperity. Her beauty was tremendous, lesser only to Layla, the Elder the Greeks worshipped as Aphrodite.

Juno.

The goddess was worshipped by the Romans under that name. They knew her as vengeful, destructive, and pitiless. The Elder Race gave her those two names because when she became angry, she was a completely different being. She was not cursed to wear two faces, or house two consciouses. She just had a very fragile temper. And when it poured out, she would not rest until all that had angered or opposed her was destroyed ultimately. But not the Elder was in her usual mood, peaceful, so Hekate chose to call her by her one _true_ name.

"Danu," She said slowly. Why the Elder was in the World Tree was still unknown to Hekate.

"Rangda," She responded, her voice like liquid nature running through the air. "She betrayed you."

"I have seen this," Hekate replied, "I have seen what she has done to the Torc Allta."

Danu shook her head, "She did not mean to kill them, she meant to kill _you_."

The Goddess with Three Faces took a step back in shock, her eyes wide. When she spoke, it came out in short whispers, "My niece has not the power."

She shook her head again, as she held up a shard of black marble. Hekate leaned in and suddenly threw herself back, hissing. Torc Allta flew out of the shadows and stood between her and the dagger. Danu waved them away, speaking as she moved the shard behind her back, "Do you know what this is, sister?"

A low snarl echoed from the back of Hekate's throat, "It is a shard from Hadrian, the elemental sword of Darkness. I do not know how Rangda retrieved it though," She paused staring Danu down, "Nor do I know how _you_, my sister, got here."

She ignored the bitter tone of Hekate's voice, "I, like many of the Elders, heard about your vengeance against your, er, murderers. And I tend to assist with that."

"What do you have against Bastet, the Morrigan, or Dr. John Dee?"

"The Morrigan has given me a mark," Danu turned her right arm over, revealing a long, white scar running from her wrist to the inside of her elbow, "And I tend to destroy her for it."

They heard footsteps echoing down the wooden stairs as Shiva came running down them, pulling on a black shirt over his pale, muscular torso. His short hair hung in strings on his forehead. The Destroyer has discovered the wonder of hair gel.

"Danu, it is my pleasure," He said, kissing her hand. "It is an honor to be in your presence."

"She will be taking Rangda's place, Shiva," Hekate said emotionless, "She will destroy the Morrigan."

"And I will destroy Bastet," He said flatly. She nodded, her butter-toned eyes turning to flat, golden coins.

"And the Doctor will be mine."

"So is it time, sister?" Shiva asked. "Is it time to lay siege to the Dark Elders?"

The Goddess with Three Faces looked out through the large doors. The Yggdrasill moaned in anticipation. "Revenge…will be mine."

With that, the three incredibly ancient Elders walked out into the world of the humani, and almost immediately, the world seemed to shake and distort itself in anxiety for the death of the two Dark Elders and the powerful immortal human. The immortal human who had killed Hekate. Who would pay for his crimes…..


	12. The Hunted: Part 1

The Cat Goddess sat alone beneath her sprawling mansion, cowering. She was in her large chamber, hidden away deep underground, hieroglyphics surrounding her on all the walls. There was no light, but Bastet needed no light to be able to see.

She knew he was coming for her. For revenge. She had taken everything from him, from the Destroyer.

She should be able to fight, to destroy him, but she couldn't. She feared Shiva. He terrified her above all else. Was she losing her touch? This was the second time she had been afraid in over the millennium. When the humani girl with the silver aura had attacked her, when she had wielded the ship of pure auric energy and that strange voice had spoken through her.

"Beware this girl Bastet, for she is your doom."

The Cat Goddess remembered that. And she always would. Until the day she died, which she had no doubt that the girl would cause that doom.

Shiva had no interest in death for her. Just torture. No doubt he already had a specific Shadowrealm ready for her infinite punishment. And she also didn't doubt that they were going after the Morrigan, bringing her the same fate that she, Bastet, would receive.

She hugged her olive toned legs tighter around her chest, laying her cat head on her knees.

"Bastet."

She almost jumped ten feet in the air at the sudden voice.

"Who is also Sekhmet, Menhit, and Mafdet."

"Shiva," She snarled. He was here, but she couldn't see him. She looked all around him, but the shadows were empty. But yet she could feel his presence, hear his voice, and smell his amber scent. He was there. And he had come for her.

"Yes Bastet, it is I," the voice sang out again, "And I have come for you, and there is nothing you can do to stop me."

She growled again, a deep ripping sound from the back of her throat. "I will do all in my power to destroy you, Shiva."

The voice laughed, the sound sending goose bumps crawling across her arms. She reached out and grabbed the spear that was lying lightly against the wall. It was almost taller than her, and the tip glittered a bloody red, smeared from the wounds of others.

She whipped her head to the side as a sharp sound of rock grinding together clattered through the subterranean halls. She bared her teeth angrily.

A sharp hand whipped from behind her, slamming into the back of her skull. She screamed, high pitched and loud, and whirled around, only to see emptiness.

"What are these games play, Shiva?" She taunted playfully.

"The same games that you played when you killed my family."

She laughed evilly, the sound bone chilling and blood curdling. "And I enjoyed every last minute of it!" Her cackling was ceased by the sudden yanking of the fur on the top of her head. She screamed again, scratching at the top of her skull, but the iron like hand didn't move, but clung harder.

When they reached the stairs, Shiva dragged Bastet up them, not turning around, not even breathing too heavily. He was unphased by the goddess's screeches of pain and terror.

"I will kill you! I will rake out your eyes! I will not rest until I have your head!" Her threats rang harmlessly on the Destroyer, who trudged up the stairs of the immense mansion, looking as if he had not a care in the world.

"Oh Bastet, the prison I have made for you will make sure that you never will have the _chance_ to rest," He said, a note of joy and bitter laughter in his voice.

The Cat Goddess screamed again, this time shattering numerous windows throughout the house.

As they reached the top level, into the light, Bastet looked around her, and gasped. All around her lay her soldiers and guards. The humans ones were barely recognizable from the inhuman, abhuman, and subhuman beings. All her militia lay dead, wounds unnoticeable on them.

"I hope you don't mind, they were crashing our party."

"What have you done to them!" She did not worry about their lives, she feared of what he was capable of.

"Simple, I sent off a high frequency sound, shattering their brains and skulls," He looked back for the first time, and smiled. Perfect, white teeth flashing in his mouth.

As he dragged her out of the mansion, she looked up and saw her house, sprawling and extravagant, shatter and crack.

And then the last tie to her life came crashing down, turning to dust.

* * *

Bastet barely even touched the leather seat of the car before she jumped back at Shiva, claws sharp and terrifying.

He quickly slid himself out of the opening of the car as the Cat Goddess lightning bolted out of it. Quickly, while her back was still towards him, he telekinetically grabbed her and lifted her several inches from the concrete road that led to the now burning mansion that was slowly dissolving to the nothing more than ash.

He pulled her in front of him, her clawed hands grabbed at her throat. The Destroyer gently put his index finger to her forehead as Bastet cursed and swore at him in several languages. As soon as his finger made contact with the gray fur of the Dark Elder's head, she dropped to the ground, unconscious.

He bent down and lifted her into the sleek, black limousine, his arm muscles defined by the weight in them. He lay her across the seats and shut the door on the limp body. He skipped merrily into the passenger's seat and looked at his not-so-human driver.

"Take me back to Hekate's Shadowrealm," Then, pulling out a white cell phone, added, "She will be pleased to know that we have apprehended one of the most fierce of the almighty Dark Elders."


	13. The Hunted: Part 2

Shiva never imagined the dramatic effect returning to Hekate's Shadowrealm and learning of the Goddess with Three Faces' rebirth would have much affect on someone…or something.

But Bastet feel under a category all her own.

The Destroyer guessed that it was because the Cat Goddess believed that it was he who had reawakened the Yggdrasill and established the Shadowrealm back to it's former glory. Little did she know that Hekate's revenge before would be nothing compared to seeing Bastet in flesh and blood…and hers to destroy.

And he had no intention of telling her that Hekate would do infinite worse things to her than he ever could. He was going to revel in the Cat Goddess' pain and fear.

He could be slightly sadistic occasionally.

"What…what are you going to do with me?" She half spat, half stuttered. Bastet was afraid and angry. Scared and enraged. Terrified and infuriated. And all this was made worse by the fact that the goddess was, and has always been, undeniably insane.

"_I_ intend to do nothing to you," He said, enjoying the discomfort she felt, "For now at least. When my, er,_ accomplice_ returns, we will deal you your punishment."  
Bastet sat up on her elbows across the wood floor of the Great Hall of the immense World Tree and for an instance what may have been a flash of sanity flooded into her eyes, and then they were engulfed by the dark craziness that had dwelt for eternity within her.

For a second, Shiva felt a drop of pity for the sad, strange creature that lay before him. Then he remembered what she had done to his family millennia ago, and scar she had left him.

He walked sternly towards the splayed out goddess. When he was practically standing over her, he lifted his shirt up to his neck, showing the pale, muscled flesh. But there was something else that destroyed the picture: three long, white gashes ran across where his heart was. They were scars, put there by Bastet.

She reached forward, about to touch the healed wounds, but Shiva raised his hand and threw it across her face, sending her sprawling across the wooden floor.

"Is this because of what I did to your mother?" She asked pleadingly. She had murdered her in her sleep, and she had enjoyed every minute of it.

"You did not just kill my mother, but my entire family!" He bellowed, and for an instant, the smell of amber filled the room as his aura flared a dark purple. He threw a smoking indigo ball of energy at the Cat Goddess, which exploded inches from her face, singeing her whiskers.

The Destroyer continued to send volleys of magical spheres towards her, each one narrowly missing her. She called it bad aim, he called it good aim for he wasn't trying to _hit _the Dark Elder, he just wanted to push her back, farther and farther…..

And then, as a plum ball accurately hit beside her left hand, she moved it back, losing her balance on the edge of the koi pond. And then, with a large amount of shaking and cat-like screams, Bastet, the Cat Goddess, fell in.

As she hit the crystal pool, creatures that seemed to be made of the water themselves, grabbed out at her, and, with overlong, sharp teeth, they began to bite the goddess. Bastet trashed about at the creatures, but she just splashed helplessly in the seemingly infinite deep pond.

Through the ruckus in the water, she managed to yell: "Is this my fate then, Destroyer?"

Shiva's smile was horrendous, and Bastet, who had seen horrors, grimaced at the deathly expression on his face. "Your fate will come soon enough, Bastet. Soon enough…"

And then he sat calmly by the pool, watching the Cat Goddess thrash helplessly in the water.


	14. The Caged: Part 1

The long boat drifted along the dark waters of San Francisco Bay, the only sound being the flashing of the tourist's cameras and the black waves lapping at the boat. Some of the passengers took pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge; others were pointing to the unusual amount of crows and ravens that gathered around the bay.

But one of the passengers, sitting in the corner of the boat, kept her neon green eyes on the immortal prison of Alcatraz.

The Rock.

She knew of only one prisoner in the past decade, and that was the powerful sorceress known as Perenelle Flamel. But the Alchemyst's wife had escaped with the help of one of the immensely almighty Elder Areop-Enap. The spider Elder's power was equal to Hekate's or Odin's, and yet she had been trapped beneath the prison until the Sorceress had unleashed her and, together, they had trapped the Next Generation known as the Morrigan in Old Spider's place.

And know Danu was going to unleash the Crow Goddess.

She looked over her shoulder at the dark water and dipped her fingers testingly into it. Then, standing up, she shed her long overcoat, revealing her long green dress intertwined with myriad flower. And then, she dove into the water, ignoring the cries and shouts from the passengers of the small tour boat.

As the Danu reached the shores of Alcatraz she didn't worry about hiding her immortal appearance for recently Dr. John Dee had purchased the prison, and had closed it down to the public, saying that he was going to restore it.

The Elder walked up the side of the Rock carelessly, fearing nothing until she would reach the Morrigan's prison.

Only she had forgotten one other creature that had been on Alcatraz. One who had never left…..

* * *

The sphinx trotted around angrily atop the prison roof. She had been robbed of the Sorceress, failed in keeping Areop-Enap securely in her subterranean prison, and hadn't assisted the Crow Goddess as the Sorceress and Old Spider had dragged her beneath the water tower and into an eternity of punishment.

And then she stopped.

Her nostrils flared as the smell hit her. It was the aroma of an all-powerful aura. One of the Elder's auras. And that either meant that they were there to save her…or destroy her.

She began muttering to herself as she scanned the barren landscape for life. Then she spotted a smudge of green along the island's horizon, and she knew who it was.

Danu.

Only she wouldn't be here as the kind and gentle Elder, she would be here as Juno, goddess of revenge and retribution. The sphinx knew that as soon as the Elder spotted her, she would transform into the dark form of Juno.

Only the daughter of Echidna had no idea what that form would look like; no one had ever lived through the fight to tell of it.

The sphinx thought about spreading her wings and flying away, far from the goddess. But she knew that Danu would find her, there was no running from her. She was there for her, and there was no stopping the Elder's warpath. Bloodlust was one of the most powerful emotions, one of the few that the Elder Race could feel.

The sphinx took a deep breath and prepared herself for a fight…..

* * *

.. …just as Danu raised her head and saw the golden coat of her body, her snow white feathery wings, and the beautiful face of the sphinx.

And her transformation into Juno began.

Her neon dress flamed to a midnight black, her eyes turning from stunning emerald to a bloody red, and her spear point flashed from white marble to an ugly sable. Her raven hair began to float, as if it was underwater, and her tanned skin turned deathly pale. Her fingernails changed from plain and glossy, to a murky black, the tips etched in red.

This was Juno.

Crimson mist flowed in huge banks off her hands, coiling all across the barren island landscape like snakes. She knew she had to focus; to go after the Morrigan, but all she could see was the sphinx, all else was clouded by her wrathful bloodlust.

The Egyptian monster glided from the roof of the prison to the misty rock below it, landing with a loud thump. She began to walk slowly towards the Elder, head held high, her face fixed into an ugly mask of false triumph, her mouth wide, flashing her pointed, yellow fangs.

Juno whipped her spear forward, striking shockingly close to the sphinx's ear. The goddess twirled her weapon as the monster circled her, eyeing her with cold black eyes.

"It has been a while, My Goddess," She said mockingly, trying to obscure Juno's judgment in battle with anger.

"I will make sure you can see no more when I am through with you, sphinx!" She spat, her face remaining unchanging and unreadable.

The sphinx hissed, feinting a lunge towards her. Juno twirled the spear at the direction the creature swayed to, then, in sudden anger, smacked the daughter of Echidna upside the head with the flat side of the spearhead.

She hissed again as the spear blazed white hot against her flesh. Her retractable claws shot out as she lunged ferociously towards the incredibly ancient Elder.

Juno spun, claws barely raking her face, as she flew past her. While her face was turned away from her, the goddess struck the spear through the sphinx's wings, pinning them together.

And then every glass window that was left intact shattered with the sound of the monster's scream.

Juno lowered herself to the earth and pressed her pale palm to the russet dirt. Neon orange sparks fluttered into the ground, her aura flaring into the same exotic color.

Then, while still screeching nonstop, the sphinx was engulfed by an explosion of earthen roots ripped from the dry, cracked underground and intertwined themselves around her body, wings, and beautiful face.

Her cries of pain turned to yells of panic as she was dragged deeper and deeper into the earth, the roots crying in earnest.

"You are no more, sphinx," Juno, slowly turning back into the gentle Danu, said flatly and expressionless.

The Elder turned as she became once again Danu and headed for the secret tunnel beneath the water tower, the cries of the sphinx suddenly muffled by gravel as the monstrous creature was buried alive.


	15. The Caged: Part 2

Danu descended slowly down the Alcatraz hallway. Since the sphinx had shown up, she had scanned the whole island with her aura, checking to see if any other creatures dwelled within the shadows.

And she had discovered an army.

She had sensed strange creatures within the prison, but her suspicions had been turned upside down into fear. There were arsenals of monsters within the Rock, and she ebgan to wonder if these were just the simple monsters, and the really powerful and destructive ones lay _within_ the island itself or maybe buried beneath.

She walked by Japanese Oni and Celtic Peists. She had seen three Torc Ursu, or werebear, and five Torc Madra. The Vetala had been a surprise, especially being so far away from their designated clan. A small tribe of Genii Cuculatti were in the cage that she walked by, and what looked like a beached lake serpent in the opposite cage. A giant Nightwalker loomed in the shadows of an open cage, piles of ash surrounding it. She had even noticed an Azear, a creature with a human form but was created completely from flame, in a cell. And the fear that she had felt when she had entered began to slowly gnaw at the rest of her, slowly eating away at her sanity.

What was Dr. Dee planning?

Spider webs would've made the journey through the prison impossible if not for when they touched her aura they sizzled and turned to dust as the scent of exotic flowers filled the Rock. The strangest part of all about the strange assortment of monsters that had no right live outside of nightmares was that they were all _asleep_. Put under an incantation or cantrip. She understood why they needed to be put asleep, but the amount of power needed to perform a spell was immense.

Then she saw it.

The ultimate weapon.

Amehait. Also known as Amutt. But known everywhere as something powerful and evil.

It, along with some of the other primordial creatures, was used in the Great War with the Others, or Titans. Then, when the war was over, they had locked the creatures away in various imprisonments.

And Amehait was one of the vilest of the creatures. It had the head of a dark emerald crocodile, the mane and tail of a lion, the torso of a leopard, and the back end of a hippopotamus.

And it was sleeping.

Danu backed up slowly, eyes wide in terror. This was a creature that had eaten several Elders, Others, Next Generation, and thousands, if not millions, of humani.

And she wondered again who exactly was the Doctor's Elder master as she ran as fast as she could out of Alcatraz…..

Danu had descended down the hidden tunnel beneath the water tower, only half-conscious of what she was doing. An _army_ was within Alcatraz. But she couldn't do anything about it. She would leave that to the other Elders. But she would have to alarm them…But she pushed that thought out of her head as the tunnel broadened into a wide expanse of subterranean mass.

She walked quietly, ignoring the restless spirits that clung to her, begging to be freed. Why were there so many here? Ghosts and spirits are tethered to a place for a reason, and Alcatraz, with it's bloody history, would probably be the most haunted place in America, if not the world.

That's when she felt it.

A soft buzzing that grew more and more pronounced as she got closer to the end of the tunnel. What was that field of energy? It was incredibly powerful: Danu had to push to keep going.

And then she stopped. There was an invisible wall in front of her. She couldn't see it, but she could _feel_ it and the arcane knowledge and power within it.

Then she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Spears dotted the earthen floor of the tunnel. But what she had noticed was what was on the spearheads. Arcane Symbols of Power that resembled Mayan artwork.

They were from the Others.

She thought the Great Elders had destroyed every last piece of them and their culture. Obviously someone had remembered them.

She reached out to touch the spear, to pluck it from the ground, disabling the incantation. But sparks exploded where her hand touched the spear and seared her flesh.

She raised a maelstrom of winds to shift the weapons, but they didn't budge. She cracked the earth, but the split ground wouldn't go past the invisible wall. She shot fire from her hands, melting even the stone of the walls, but the spears remained unphased. She shot spouts of water at each spear individually, but they were immune to the Elder Magic.

Then she got it.

Whoever set them up had to be _in_ the center of power as the spell was activated. But that would've ripped them apart and destroyed them from the inside out. So they had to be controlled by a simple Word of Power.

And she knew the word.

Her husband, the Chief of the Elders, Odin had power over magic, and he and Hekate had preserved books and manuscripts of the Others secretly whilst they studied the arcane magic. Danu had dismissed it but kept their secret. But she had occasionally read a scroll or two and has heard her husband spout of what he had learned. Little did they know that that knowledge of the ancient magic made them the most powerful of the Elders.

She vaguely recognized the incantations before her, and if she was correct, Hekate had known the being who devised the spell, making his name the Word of Power.

"Ymir," She murmured softly, anxiety practically ripping her apart. Suddenly, the spears shifted, bending and tilting towards the walls of the tunnel, making a clear path through them.

She laid her hand against where the invisible wall was, and it fell through. She tested half of her body, but it passed through as well. There was still the buzz of power that she had to push through, but it was barely tangible, and so she strode through the graveyard of spears, towards the opening at the end of the tunnel.

That's when the scream hit her, sending her hair flowing behind her. The Morrigan materialized in the opening, hands tensed into sharp, jagged claws. She screamed again, and Danu heard the sound of shattering glass back in the Alcatraz and shivered, wondering if it had woken any of the sleeping monsters within.

The Crow Goddess lunged, her face fixed into an ugly mask of bitter anger. Danu raised her hand and she stopped mid-flight. The Next Generation looked from side to side, and then bore her gaze into the Elder.

"Why have you come, Juno?" She spat angrily.

When Danu responded, her voice was surprisingly soft and mellow. "I have come for you, Morrigan. Hekate and I will devise a suitable Shadowrealm for your punishment."  
She hissed suddenly, eyes wide in horror. "Impossible! Hekate is dead! I watched as Excalibur destroyed herself and Yggdrasill!"  
Danu smiled maliciously. "The goddess lives, and so does the World tree," and then she added, "And she has a thirst for vengeance."

She turned and ripped her fingernails through the air, opening a thin portal. Through it they both could clearly see Hekate's Shadowrealm and Bastet thrashing in a koi pond being savagely attacked by water demons.

With a cackle, Danu gripped the Morrigan by the scruff of the neck and through her through the portal and into the pond with her Dark Elder accomplice. And with a last gaze around her, she stepped through the portal and stood beside Shiva, smiling in triumph.


	16. The Taken: Part 1

The small man paced back and forth in his small office. Flamel had escaped him _again_. And this time he had had the assistance of Niccolo Machiavelli. Their Elder Master's would not be pleased.

"We will capture them, John," the Italian said calmly from an armchair in the corner of the room. "Nicholas knows we no longer need him or his wife. The twins are the key now."

"And we failed to capture them as well!" Dee retorted bitterly, the room suddenly filled with the distinct odor of sulfur as his aura snapped alight around him, framing him in a sickly yellow glow.

The scent of snake overwhelmed the smell of rotten eggs as Machiavelli stood, his gray aura snapping and cracking on the air. "All in due time, my friend, all in due time."  
The Magician ignored him and spun around and rested his hands on his desk, rotting the mood where his aura bit into it.

Throughout their argument, the two had been oblivious to the slight aroma of lime caressing the thick air, sending a clear and deadly message: I'm coming.

The Italian froze suddenly. Dee ignored him until the room fell deathly quiet. He looked over his shoulder as Machiavelli, "What is it?"

"I thought you said you destroyed the Yggdrasill," He said quietly, eyes looking off into the distance.

"I did," He responded, fear creeping into his voice. Hekate had few allies, but the few she had were infinitely powerful.

"And Hekate?"

"She died with the World Tree. Why do you ask?"

Machiavelli's head shot towards Dee, his face plastered with fear. "No she didn't."

* * *

Hekate walked calmly through Enoch Enterprises. The reception room was full with curious looking people, but no one unique. She sensed a few powerful auras but nothing special. The subhuman, abhuman, and inhuman creatures walked by her and hissed low and quietly, seeing through the incantation she had placed over herself to walk in the World of Man.

When she entered the elevator, she tore her _glamour _off, revealing her true form. The man waiting by the floor buttons just raised an eyebrow at her. He wore a tight black shirt and black jeans, in this day and age he would fit in with any teenage crowd.

"Back from the dead, hmm?" He said simply. When the goddess didn't answer he asked: "What floor?"  
"Take me to the Doctor," She said coldly, knowing that he would understand. He pressed a button and the elevator hummed as they slowly went up.

Hekate eyed the young looking man for a while, when a broad smile stretched across her expression. If he noticed, he didn't show any sign of it.

"I didn't know there were any Nephilim left in California."

The young man glared at her, and then sighed. "Yes, my kind has all left. Only I remain."

"And why do you remain?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"John Dee has put me under a _gaese_, I am bound to him until he releases me," He said sadly.

"What is your name?"

"Uriel," He said. His voice had the strange accent of ancient Israel, with a tinge of Persian.

"Uriel?" She asked. She knew of the Nephilim. Although the existed within the Elder World, they were not Elders themselves. They were said to be children of the Angels of God.

"It was the name of my father," He said shyly. The young man looked about sixteen, when he was probably older than most civilizations.

"Well Uriel, I can release you," She said, her voice sounded almost happy, "if you assist me in the capture of Dr. John Dee."

The Nephlim's head shot up, eyes bright with anxiety. "Of course! I would be honored."

Hekate rested her hands on his head and began to move her mouth, words inaudible to the human ear. Suddenly, a white light shown around Uriel, giving him a divine look. When the light had died down, the doors of the elevator opened.

Green mist flowed off her fingers, filling the whole floor with the scent of lime. The Nephilim unsheathed a long scimitar, encrypted with ancient symbols. Hekate smiled maliciously as she walked down the long hallway towards the tall door at the other end that led to the English Magician.

"And so it begins," Uriel whispered to himself.

The Goddess with Three Faces shook her head. "And so it ends."


	17. The Taken: Part 2

Machiavelli raised his hands defensively. If Hekate was coming for them, he was not going to be caught off guard. Or was that what she wanted? He shook his head. Understanding the goddess' motives was probably impossible. A list of spells and enchantments ran through his head, registering themselves into his consciousness. He needed the most powerful spell that he knew…even though it would to little to nothing to the all-powerful Elder.

Dee reached inside his jacket and withdrew a large, flat, stone blade. The serpents carved into the hilt hissed to life, the sword flashing an ugly blue.

Excalibur.

They both knew Hekate would hesitate at seeing her murder weapon. And a hesitation was all they needed.

"You know we can't win," Machiavelli said flatly, more of a statement than a question.

"Just distract her, all I need is one good strike ands the goddess will feel the bitter taste of death once more," Dee responded bitterly, ice forming on his words in the cold room. Dee turned his head to the side, listening, and swore as he took up a battle pose.

"What is it?" The Italian magician whispered, unsure if he really wanted to know. Hekate was coming to punish them; what else could go wrong?

"She has brought Uriel. I should've known she'd release him."

Machiavelli began muttering to himself the problems of using _gaeses. _Dee pointed behind him to his desk without moving his eyes of the door. "Call in backup. I don't care who, just anyone!"

"Are there any Elders in the building?" Niccolo asked, already knowing the answer.

"No."

"How about the surrounding area?"

"Only Areop-Enap, but she is imprisoned in Alcatraz and she would never move against Hekate to side with us."

"Then we are doomed," Machiavelli said hoarsely. "No others can stand against the Goddess with Three Faces."

Dee turned around and lifted the phone to his ear and spoke rapid fire Latin. When he had finished he took a stand next to the Italian. "I have called every last force, human and not, we have around us in."

Machiavelli swallowed loudly. Then, in a last minute question, he asked, "Who do we pray to to save us?"

"Only those who have not the strength to help themselves pray."

* * *

Hekate stopped in front of the tall wooden door, green mist flowing from her hands coiled underneath it, signaling her approach. She touched her jet black hand to the door and…

* * *

…the world exploded.

The moment her flesh touched the door, it shattered into millions of tiny splinters. Uriel has jumped past her, scimitar raised. Machiavelli stood by the wide window murmuring an incantation…

But all she could see was Dee.

Dee standing beside the Italian magician with Excalibur. She hesitated at the sight of the incredibly ancient blade.

And Machiavelli took advantage of that hesitation.

He shot a volley of gray spheres at her. They did not reach her but instead exploded close to her. The magic effected how she saw through it. Everything had become distorted, but it was a _clear _distortion. Her eyes were unharmed but simply the air was twisted around her, bent and shifted to create a swirl of patterns.

Dee lunged with Excalibur, his eyes filled with insanity. Uriel quickly shed his black shirt and revealed what lay hidden beneath it: A pair of huge, feathery wings. The wingspan had to of reached sixteen feet and Hekate wondered how they had remained hidden so well. The Nephilim had always surprised the Elder Race.

Some things never change.

Uriel crashed into Dee as he half flew, half jumped into the air. The both tumbled down to the earth in a cloud of sulfurous fumes.

Hekate raised her hand and a blinding light flashed from it, ripping the air distortion apart, revealing a clear image of a shocked Machiavelli. She walked swiftly to the Italian magician and laid her dark hand on his white haired scalp and closed her eyes. Immediately she fell to the ground, eyes rolling behind his head.

She turned her attention back to the Doctor and the Nephilim.

Uriel had raised himself to his feet and clung savagely to a bookshelf, his feet placed delicately on the fourth shelf, his wings splayed out behind him.

Dee was on his feet had Excalibur raised desperately in front of him. When he saw Hekate, he shifted his body to face hers.

And that's what Uriel had been waiting for.

With a barbaric howl he flew from the shelf and tackled the Doctor, but this time he had had a firmer grasp on what he had attacked for. As Dee slid to the corner of the room, Uriel stood to his feet, Excalibur gripping expertly in his left hand, his broken scimitar in his right hand which he quickly discarded. It skidded across the floor with a loud clattering as he shifted the Sword of Ice to his right hand.

Hekate walked to where the Doctor lay hunched in the corner, barely conscious. She bent low to him, lifting his head to make sure he looked her in the eye.

"Hello, Doctor," She said with sadistic happiness.

Dee, obviously losing his sanity, began to laugh loudly, his scratchy chuckles turning to gagging coughs as the dust from the destroyed room settled in his throat.

"Go ahead," He said tauntingly, "Punish me. Do your worse."

Hekate's face remained impassive as she responded, "Why do you not fear me, Dee?" She did not sound shocked or irritated, more curious. She knew he was afraid; the terror practically iced him to the bone.

"My Elder master will save me," He said smugly.

The goddess lifted him by the throat, raising his feet from the littered floor. A soft chuckle escaped Uriel's lips behind them. "Oh Doctor, I am not going to imprison you in a Shadowrealm, nor set you among your servants and let them devour you," She paused, seeing the horror of what she was really going to do finally set in on Dee's face. "I am going to do something to you that not even your Elder master will be able to heal you from."

The English Magician stuttered on the words as his dry lips formed them, "Wha-…What are you going to do to me?" In the first time in his entire life he, Dr. John Dee, Magician, Necromancer, and Alchemist, was afraid. No, he was _terrified._

"I am going to take away your feeling. I am going to make you into an unfeeling, unemotional, _undying_ corpse. You will be little more than a rock," tears began to stream down his face, "You, Dr. John Dee, are going to become nothing."

She laid him back down and rested her palm atop his forehead, concentrating. Her eyes became flat silver coins and Dee saw in them his own reflection; his own transformation into nothing.

She lifted her hand when she saw the light leave his eyes and his aura fade away into nothingness. He was shaking slowly, his mouth hanging open, eyes bloodshot and strained. He felt hollow, like an empty shell. He just wanted to throw himself over a cliff, to end the emptiness, but when he tried to move, his muscles wouldn't respond.

"You are nothing, Doctor," the Goddess with Three Faces said, what sounded like sadness in her voice, "the darkness has engulfed you, and you are its unwilling slave."

She turned her head out of the now open window, seeing Uriel's silhouette on the horizon. She walked to a mirror in the corner of the room and laid her hand atop it. It flashed green before revealing the Great Hall of the Yggdrasill in it.

She stepped through the leygate, leaving the soulless body behind her without a second glance…

* * *

The sun had already sunk low in the sky by the time anyone had found Dr. John Dee. A young woman with sparkling blue eyes and raven hair leaned next to the living corpse and shook her head disapprovingly.

She stood back up and walked out of the room, holding the door while she urged the raiding squad through it. She turned back to the Magician before she walked through it herself and said:

"And so the great age of Dr. John Dee has come to an end."


	18. Brackish Waters

"Where is Dee?" Danu asked, standing up in the presence of Hekate. Only a moment ago the goddess had come through the mirror in the corner of the room which has obviously been a leygate.

"He attempted to use Excalibur against me, I had no time," She lied. What she had done was seen as the most dreadful punishment given by en Elder, and although the two would not argue, she could not it be used against her someday. "The Doctor was dead when I left, well, dying, anyway." She thought that was a good cover up. If any of the Elders attempted to check in on the aura-less doctor, she could use the excuse that the humani had saved him, but that was the price.

"What of Bastet and the Morrigan?" Shiva asked, his brow furrowed, unbelieving Hekate's story. He motioned to the koi pond. The Goddess with Three Faces went to the waters edge and looked beneath the still waters. Two figures lay suspended in the pool, eyes closed, but they all knew that they were very, very alive.

"I have heard that Danu has created a Shadowrealm for the Morrigan?" She asked, her eyes unmoving from the still bodies.

She nodded, "A whole Shadowrealm of underground. She will be forced to wonder the unending labyrinth of stone looking for a way to the entrance, but she will never find it," She added maliciously.

Hekate turned to the Destroyer. "And Bastet?"

He shrugged, "I was actually thinking of letting her go."

Both the goddess' heads snapped up to bore their gaze into him. "What!?" They screeched in unison.

Shiva lifted his shoulder again. "When I went after her, she was afraid. It was a fear more powerful than any I could induce into her through a Shadowrealm. If I were to release her, I could always check back in every few weeks, scare her some more."

"Hmm," Danu murmured to herself. "What if you make her think _she _escaped on her own?"

"Do what you wish," Hekate said dismissively. "Where will you two go?"

"I plan to return to the Irish highlands of my youth. I miss them dearly…" She said dreamily.

"I will probably head back to LA, within close range of Bastet. And occasionally take a trip to India to the lost city of Ocher to visit my few remaining relatives." But then he added, "We must let them go."

"No," Hekate said impassively.

"Hekate, if we imprison either of them we are no better than them. We must be better, we must be the Elders who…"  
"I will not let them live while I live. And neither will they."

Shiva shoved past her and reached into the cold water and pulled Bastet out. She snapped awake as soon as she broke the surface of the waves. He dragged her snapping and thrashing body to the large mirror in the corner. He activated the leygate but before he threw the Cat Goddess through, he touched her forehead. He pinched his thumb and index finger together against her furry head and pulled a long luminescent silver string from it. Then he shoved her through the gate and closed the portal.

"What is it?" Danu asked curiously, eyeing the silver strand floating in his hand.

"It is her memory, the memory of you, Hekate. She no longer remembers that you live."  
"Then we accomplished nothing?" Hekate spat angrily at him.

"I induced fear and panic into her before I took this memory. She will live as if she were constantly being tracked down. She has become Bastet the Hunted."

"I wish to do the same to the Morrigan," Danu said suddenly. "But I want to put her back within her prison in Alcatraz.

And so, moments later, the Crow Goddess had entered her prison once again, her memory of Hekate gone. "Morrigan the Caged," Danu murmured softly to herself.

"I trust in what you did although I do not approve of it," Hekate confessed when they were done. "But then what have we accomplished? We had them, but now they are released back into the world!"

"They are creatures of the night, Hekate," Danu answered, s twinge of sadness in her voice, "and the worst possible punishment for them was already given. A creature of the night hunted by night itself."

"There is no more we can do," Shiva said, "We cannot play God." Hekate had forgotten that the Destroyer had been a firm believer in a higher power, despite the fact that _his_ powers, along with most of the other Elders, were almost limitless.

"I must be off," Danu stated suddenly. "My flight leaves in a few hours." A smile stretched across her face. "How strange is it that we went from ruling the world to traveling among the humani in _planes_?" She turned, and with a giggle, kissed both of them good-bye. And then she was gone.

"I must be leaving too," Shiva said, remorse in his voice. "But before I leave, I have something for you." Hekate turned to face him as he opened his hands and revealed a golden lotus flower. With a gasp of surprise, she cupped it in her hands. "It will always bring good luck to its possessor."

"Thank you, Shiva," She whispered. And then he turned and ran out of the World Tree and out of the Shadowrealm.

The Yggdrasill moaned in anticipation: for the first time since the Dark Elders had invaded her home, Hekate was in peace. She was _happy. _

She tossed the golden lotus into the pond, ignoring it as it sank to the unseeable bottom. She walked outside of the tree and turned to stare up at its wonder. It was a magnificent creature, full of power, but yet full of solitude.

"The world is ours," She murmured softly to the World Tree, laying her jet black hands on its ancient bark. "How should we spend eternity?"


	19. Epilogue

_I write these words down in my imprisonment for this is a crucial fragment in Elder history. _

_Hekate was released from the great burden that had so angrily clung to her and ate away at her. She once again became a goddess, filled with glory and triumph._

_Shiva went to Ocher, living his life to the fullest there. He became highly respected in his profound views of the world and theology._

_Danu returned to Ireland, where she told the story that Hekate had told her about the Twins of Legend, Nicholas, Perenelle, the Elder Race and the Dark Elders, and so much more, to an Irish author in Dublin. Then she returned to the sprawling hills if the green countryside where her singing is heard throughout the hills on sunny days._

_There is little more to write about the story of Hekate. The Dark Elders are still out there, lying in wait, but now they know that they have one more enemy to look out for: The Goddess with Three Faces._

_And so the story of Hekate lives on through this manuscript which I so fervently write. I will cast it out when I finish writing this last page into the red waves, where it will drift for all eternity until finally this Shadowrealm breaks down and all that is in it is destroyed. But I have put an interesting enchantment over these pages. They will not fade away with my prison, but will exist in the World of Man until a humani finds it. I am sure that only a humani will find it for I have put the same spell over these pages that Abraham the Mage cast over the Codex. _

_The sun is low in the crimson sky and the full moon is rising soon. I will travel to the other side of the island to cast this into the ocean by moonlight and return by morning to this very same spot._

_I am not sorry for what I have done in the past to be place here. I have no regrets; save for one:_

_I wish I could have seen the humani rise in power. I have heard it was a splendid thing to watch, and my only regret is that I was not there to witness it. _

_But the world will carry on without me, but I cannot carry on without the world, and I suspect my days are numbered. The Elders do not wish to waste their magic on me, so they are going to destroy me and this Shadowrealm. _

_As I speak, fire is raining from the sky, and death is slowly staking its claim over me. _

_I do not fear death for anyone can die, but living…now that's the real challenge. And I hope I passed._

_I do not think there is a heaven for creatures like me. I do not enter the same hall that the humani talk of in their religions. _

_For I am a creature of blood, and so into blood I shall return__**…..**_


	20. Author's Note

The idea for "Hekate: The Aftermath Chronicles" had been with me since the day I finished the Alchemyst. The Goddess with Three Faces had always been one of my favorite characters, along with the Morrigan and Comte de Saint-Germain, and her death was kind of unbelievable for me.

And at New Year's Eve I was on the computer instant messaging one of my friends when she sent me the link to her fanfiction story. So, a few days later I checkout the site and, obviously, liked what I saw. So I started an account and the Aftermath Chronicles were born.

Now, the idea of Ymir actually came to me while I was on my trampoline and was bored. I made up the little romance between the two a while before I even learned about . Bringing him back to life as a baby was a completely different idea entirely! I had only really gotten through the history of the two lovebirds, but never really the future for them, so that was a big twist. And, like all real love stories, there was a tragic end. Their love was forbidden. But the sad emotion was quickly engulfed by the recreation of Hekate's Shadowrealm, so I put that tragic death of their love out of my mind.

The Yggdrasill, of course, had to come back It was the center of her power. And her Shadowrealm was easy to recreate in my own mind because I have read the Alchemyst about fourteen times, not to mention when I did research and just skimmed the book. The Torc Allta HAD to come back being her greatest warriors, and the Lizard Nathair always fascinated me, so they came back as well. And the banshee were just thrown in there for good measure, which that idea also came from the Alchemyst: When Sophie and Josh are planning their escape and they hear footsteps so they hid in a room as something screams as it walks by them. Yeah, see where I got the idea for the banshee?

The Elder War was a big plan with small wings. Yes, I wanted to write about the Elder vs. Dark Elder war, but it was too complicated, so I settled for just her killers: Bastet, the Morrigan, and the loathsome Dr. John Dee.

The concept of the Fifth Element of Time also came from the Alchemyst, which Nicholas Flamel mentions while crouching by the koi pond in the World Tree. But there were only two Elders who could use the element of Time. Hello Chronos, hello Witch of Endor.

Hekate, of course, needed allies. And the idea for Rangda had always been another name for Hekate in my view, but then I thought about something else. What if she were insane enough to be able to defeat the Morrigan? You would need a very powerful Elder or a very crazy one to do that. Ta da, guess which one I picked?

Shiva, the Destroyer, is my favorite deity in Hindu mythology. He is seen as the destroyer, but out of destruction comes rebirth. And plus, if I was going to have a crazy Next Generation on my team, I needed a righteous Elder.

Rangda's betrayal was simple. I had come to the conclusion that she _couldn't_ defeat the Crow Goddess. And so, I had to 'get rid of' her. And so I did. But that left me with a problem: Who was going to replace her?

I was reading an Irish mythology book at the time and had read about Danu, the queen of the gods. She had fascinated me, but I couldn't put her in there, not while I already mentioned Juno as being the wife of Odin in the first chapter. And so I came up with the idea of her being two faced. Not like Rangda or Hekate (three-faced in that instance), but more being ruled by her emotions. And so the vengeful Juno and the gentle Danu were tied in to the chronicles.

Bastet was in the exact same mansion that Dr. John Dee had gone to to recruit her. And Shiva melting into the shadows was a simple incantation that anyone can master, but, in her fear, the Cat Goddess had seen it as something more powerful. Silly kitty.

Alcatraz had always been one of the most fascinating places in the world to me, so I was more than happy to begin writing about it. The sphinx never left the Rock, Dee never learning of Perenelle and Areop-Enap's escape, so Danu, becoming the ravenous Juno, took care of her using her profound knowledge in Earth Magic. And then displaying her skills in the four magic's beneath Alcatraz, attempting to move the same spears that Perenelle has shifted, her being able to because she was human. The Morrigan, sensing the sudden shift on energy in the air had run out in anger, only to be overcome by Danu, retaining her calm as she threw the Crow Goddess into the same pond that Shiva had pushed Bastet into, trapping them both.

Of course the situation Machiavelli and Dee were in is going to have to change when later on in the series things change. But I had to put them in there sometime. I put Machiavelli in the story because I figured it really wasn't fair for Dee to have to stand up against Hekate all on his own. Plus, I'd rather he lose with help; it makes him look even weaker.

The Nephilim idea was sort of a last minute thing. They are actual figures in the Bible and, depending on your religion, they did exist. They were the children of the Angels of God. Uriel is also an actual Angel, whether or not he was one of the Angels to have children with humans, I don't know that. I thought putting him in there was not only a good idea to help Hekate (like she needs help!), but also a statement about my faith and beliefs, which, for those of you who are wondering, I am a Christian, a Methodist to be exact. And so yes, I do believe that the Nephilim really existed. So hah.

And then there's the fateful death of Dr. John Dee. I always saw becoming an unfeeling, soulless body was worse than death and torture combined. Living as an empty shell is horrible, and so I mirrored that idea into the punishment of the English Magician. Also, the young woman mentioned is to be a key character in my next story for the Alchemyst. History knows her as Anne Boleyn, but that's another story…

Releasing the two Dark Elders was simply for reasons of the future. Of course, none of my stories have ANYTHING to do with each other unless otherwise specified, but I wanted to keep my options open. Just in case. Bastet was given back her mansion, and the Morrigan was placed by inside the Rock where "The Magician" left her off at. The lotus flower given to Hekate by Shiva is completely symbolism. For what, well, you'll have to _ask_ me that one…

The title of the last chapter "Brackish Waters" came from the moment when three Elders were set at each others throats, deciding if they should release the Dark Elders or imprison them. "Brackish" refers to salt water and fresh water mixed, so the two opinions were mixed together until a common agreement was reached.

The epilogue is an interesting subject. It was written by a character in the book which the intelligent would quickly recognize who it is, but the foolish won't notice, so I will tell you that the epilogue was written by the Thorn: Rangda. It was an excellent way to end the story, I think. Rangda, in her imprisonment, writing the Aftermath Chronicles. And then there's the part about Danu telling the story of the Elder Race to an "Irish author in Dublin". Of course, that Irish author is Michael Scott. But he may have gotten the story from another Elder, Next Generation, or Immortal Human. But then again, the whole story isn't real….. right? ;)

**Shaneltz**


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